Teachers are constantly encouraged to integrate technology into their classrooms, but aren't always given the direction or resources to do so. Here are a few suggestion for technology integration in your own classroom.
1. Take virtual field trips
Supplement textbooks and other traditional materials with a virtual field trip.
Though they don't compare to experiencing the topic firsthand, virtual field
trips can often stimulate discussion and curiosity about a topic and require
little preparation to use. Virtual tours are also more cost-efficient and easy
to coordinate than a real field trip. Many virtual tours available online are
well organized and informational, but you can also purchase software to create
your own virtual tours. Click here
for additional tips on using virtual tours, and to view a list of virtual tour
Web sites.
2. Try interactive whiteboards
Interactive whiteboards, such as the SMART
Board, are magnified monitor/computer/projectors. You can write notes on the
board and then save them as formatted text, e-mail notes, and control the
computer by touching the whiteboard screen. Available in sizes up to 72 inches,
these interactive whiteboards allow the entire classroom to work together on one
computer. While this technology requires a larger technology budget, it can
easily be shared between classrooms.
3. Create a classroom newspaper
Not only can students learn more about each other, their school, and their
community through writing articles, they can also learn a lot about what it
takes to create a newspaper, all while using technological tools to put it
together. Students can use the Internet and e-mail to gather information for
articles, use digital cameras or paint programs to create images for news pages,
and become proficient using software programs used to layout and design pages
and images for the newspaper.
View the Yahoo!
directory for a sampling of school newspapers.
Or view Miriam
Grich's article on techlearning.com.
4. Write to keypals
Traditional paper and pencil penpals have been replaced by keypals, an online
e-mail correspondence between students. Students develop their language skills
while learning about another culture, but do so in a technological context.
Understanding e-mail and how it works is one of the most popular uses for e-mail
as well. Check out these links for more information on keypals:
ePALS Classroom Exchange
Penpal Box. A site for kids to find
their own keypals.
5. Animate history with multimedia
History can be dull in static textbooks, but pictures have the ability to help
students relate to the past. Bring history to life by restoring or animating old
pictures with multimedia. For example, students could do genealogical research
by scanning old family photos to create a digital slide show. Or if you want to
delve into local history, see if you can access your local newspaper archives
and recreate an interactive historical timeline.